Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Día de Reyes

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 11
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/16/17
Primary Language: Spanish

Informant: Valentina Williamson. 11 years old. Born and raised in Mexico City. My little sister.

Informant: “On January 6 Los Reyes Magos (The Three Wise Men) arrive! The night before, I leave my shoe next to the window and when I wake up I find a gift in it. It is like a small gift. Like last year I got candy and an iTunes gift card. I love this because I get gifts after Christmas (Informant smiles).”

Collector: “Why do they bring gifts”

Informant: “Emmm…Los Reyes Magos delivered gifts to Jesus when he was born. Los Reyes Magos bring gifts because of that”

Collector: “Do you do anything else to celebrate this day?!”

Informant: “Estem…. La Rosca!! How could I forget?! We usually have a dinner with my friends and family. After dinner, there is a very special dessert called ‘la Rosca de Reyes.’ Sometimes it has pieces of dried fruit in it but I don’t like that one so I make dad buy the other one. So we pass it around and everyone cuts their own piece. There is like a little baby Jesus hidden somewhere. Whoever gets the baby Jesus in their piece has to host a dinner and bring tamales! That person doesn’t really do it but we all them him or her to!”

Thoughts: The Dia de Reyes is very important. Because Mexico is very religious, there is a strong emphasis on celebrating Christ. When I was a little kid, I didn’t get gifts from the wise men as it wasn’t something my parents did. As an older brother, however, I was actually the one who first put the gifts in my sister’s shoe. I wanted her to have the tradition. Since I’m abroad, my parents have kept it and my sister loves it.

Louis and Clarke Reenactments

Nationality: American
Age: 74
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Ava, IL
Performance Date: 15 March 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My grandmother has always lived in a small town in southern Illinois. Its population is a little under 600 and dwindling quickly. However, she recounted some of the unique folklore and traditions that have remained alive throughout the years.

Original Script: Some Ava folklore is that Louis and Clarke spent the night on their trek to the west. They even had reenactors a couple of years ago who came through, and it was, it must have been mid-July, so you know it’s in the nineties and they’re wearing their furs. But, you know, people love it.

Context of Performance: At the breakfast table, she told the story to myself and my sister.

Thoughts about the Piece: I enjoy hearing about the little quirks and traditions that small towns, specifically in rural agricultural areas, keep throughout years.

Persian Food Beliefs

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 16 April 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Persian

Informant: My friend is Persian, and her mother told her old tales like these in order to get her to behave as a child.
Original Piece: Food related rules: don’t eat chocolate or anything with sugar before bed or else you’ll have bad dreams…later I realized that’s so I don’t have energy when I sleep. Then, let’s see… oh, don’t eat when you’re crying or it’ll turn into poison in your stomach. Again, I later realized that’s so I don’t find comfort in eating when I’m sad. When you get a new car, you have to run over an egg, because the egg symbolizes any accidents or danger that can happen to you in the car, and by doing it to an egg, right when you get the new car, it takes the place of the impending danger in a light, easier way.
Context of Performance: I invited her over for dinner and we were remembering stories we shared as roommates, and I remembered her talking about all the things she used to believe growing up. I asked her if she would share any particular pieces of folktale from her childhood.
Thoughts about the Piece: I love hearing these stories, which always seemed like quirks of hers, until she told me the reasons behind them. I remember even in college, although she knew these things aren’t necessarily true, she still abided by them… just in case.

Tamil Wedding Gifts

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 1 April 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “Wedding traditions… there’s so many. This is very specific to Christian Tamil weddings. Bride and grooms families, they exchange fruits. And you give fruits because it’s a symbol of plenty… like having a lot, you know? Like fruitfulness, you know? It’s like a blessing. There’s a lot that has to do with food in all the traditions. Because it’s a symbol of plenty.
The bride’s family buys the groom a gold chain. Why do they do this…. it’s the first gift to give. Gold is a very big part of Indian culture and tradition, because it doesn’t lose value. So giving it to people in different life phases is very important, so it’s the first gift they give to the son-in-law. And they put it on during the wedding ceremony. The groom’s family buys the girl gold bangles and puts in on during the ceremony as well.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: I really like this piece, and learning about the tradition of gifts in the culture. Rather than toasters or pots and pans, they get food and gold, all symbolic for the marriage.

Tamil Wedding Guests

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 1 April 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “There’s the engagement, not like a proposal, but the engagement is a ceremony that happens one or two days before the wedding. It’s like the announcement that they’re getting married, but everyone already knows they’re getting married because it’s two days before the wedding. It’s just close friends and family, so it’s the smallest group of people, but still like a hundred people. Then there’s the actual wedding ceremony, because we’re Christian Tamal ours is in a church. Then there’s receptions… usually in the girl’s hometown and the guy’s hometown, so there’s those two. Then there’s…then sometimes there’s another one in another city, like where they went to college. Some people go to all of them, but some people go to just portions of them.
Usually you give an invitation to one person in the family. Like, you send out 300, but 1200 people come. But you plan for 1200 people. And it’s rude to give invitations through the mail if you’re within driving distance. Even if it’s a couple hours away, you need to hand deliver the invitation. Some people have not gone to weddings because they received invitations through the mail.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: I thought this was interesting, that overall the wedding proceedings could last for days.